Business 100 - 2012

Ed Gilligan/American Express

Ed Gilligan is vice chairman of American Express Company, a position he has held since June 2007. Ed is responsible for the company’s global consumer, small business, merchant services, and network services businesses.

While studying for his BS in economics and management at New York University in 1980, Ed joined American Express where he worked as a temp. He became full time with the company in 1982. In June 1995, Ed took the position of president for Commercial Card and Business Travel for the United States. He was named one of the two group presidents at American Express in 2002 and ran the international consumer card business as well as the global portfolio of payment and travel services.

Ed is a member of the board of directors of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in NY and a member on the boards of Zipcar Inc., Concur Technologies, and The Fancy.com.

Ed is a first-generation Irish-American with family from Castlerea, Co. Roscommon on his father side. He lives in New York with his wife, Lisa, and their four children.